28 July 2010

Is absentmindedness considered a disability?

I look forward to reading Blawg Review each Monday and, generally, I'm quick to mention each week's issue here. Sometimes I'm a little busy and I don't get to that mention until Tuesday. That it's Wednesday and I'm only just now getting around to recommending Vincent LoTempio's fine Blawg Review #274 is a particular shame. I enjoyed it very much on Monday, which was the twentieth anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, as discussed by LoTempio's post. What's my excuse for not writing about it here? Well, to borrow from Steve Martin, "I forgot."

Yes, things have been a bit hectic of late, but I'll make amends now. Go and read Blawg Review if you've not done so already. To update, the ADA is now twenty years and two days old, but Blawg Review #274 is just as relevant. The extensive discussion of the importance and impact of the ADA is the highlight of the post, of course, though other relevant legal blogging from the past week isn't neglected. LoTempio offers a personal account of the Act's effects, which helps to remind us that the ADA has done much good in its twenty years. Though some of that good is balanced by the Act's adverse impact on private enterprise in particular and by the "disability culture" which has arisen in employment and education law (Walter Olson has a great post on some of those issues), it's undeniable that the humanity and concern demonstrated by the enacting of the ADA is a legislative moment of which we can be proud all these years later.

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About Me

I am presently corporate counsel for Accela, Inc., a software company headquartered in San Ramon, California and am a member of both the Oregon and California State Bars. More detailed professional information is available at my LinkedIn profile.

I have been blogging at Infamy or Praise since early 2005. From 2006 to 2009, I served as a "Sherpa" at Blawg Review, the weekly carnival of legal blogging; I have also hosted (or co-hosted) six editions of Blawg Review, the first four of which were awarded a "Blawg Review of the Year" award. I formerly was a co-blogger at Unsilent Partners. I'm on Twitter as "colinsamuels".

I am the author of "Humanizing the Profession: Lawyers Find Their Public Voices Through Blogging" (11 Nexus L. J. 89 (2006)) and a contributing author to "Blogging and Other Social Media" (Gower Publishing Limited, 2008) and "Legal Profession: Modern Approach" (The Icfai University Press, 2008).

None of the foregoing blogging, tweeting, or personal writing necessarily represents the views of my employer; responsibility for these is entirely mine.